Andrey Litvinov

China is quietly executing one of the most ambitious gold strategies in modern financial history. What looks on the surface like a retail boom — crowded jewelry counters in Hainan, bullion shops replacing fashion boutiques in Hong Kong — is in fact part of a much broader effort to reshape the global gold order. Beijing is moving on several fronts at once: building trading infrastructure in Hong Kong, encouraging overseas acquisitions by mainland miners, deepening central bank reserves, and channeling domestic demand through duty-free and retail arbitrage.

Silver steadied above $88 per ounce on February 24, 2026, a level that would have seemed extraordinary only a few years ago but now feels almost routine after the metal’s dramatic ascent. In January, silver briefly broke through the psychologically powerful $100 threshold for the first time in modern history.